THE ORISSA (ALTERATION OF NAME) ACT, 2011 
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ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS 
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SECTIONS 

1.  Short title and commencement. 
2.  Definitions. 
3.  Alteration of name of State of Orissa. 
4.  Amendment of article 164. 
5.  Amendment of article 273. 
6.  Amendment of First Schedule to the Constitution. 
7.  Amendment of Fourth Schedule to the Constitution. 
8.  Power to adapt laws. 
9.  Power to construe laws. 
10.  Legal proceedings. 

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THE ORISSA (ALTERATION OF NAME) ACT, 2011 

ACT NO. 15 OF 2011 

[23rd September, 2011.] 

An Act to alter the name of the State of Orissa. 

BE it enacted by Parliament in the Sixty-second Year of the Republic of India as follows:— 

1.  Short  title  and  commencement.—(1)  This  Act  may  be  called  the  Orissa  (Alteration  of  Name) 

Act, 2011. 

(2)  It  shall  come  into  force  on  such  date1  as  the  Central  Government  may,  by  notification  in  the 

Official Gazette, appoint. 

2. Definitions.—In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,— 

(a) “appointed day” means the date appointed under sub-section (2) of section 1 for the coming 

into force of this Act; 

(b) “appropriate Government” means, as respects a law relating to a matter enumerated in List I 
in the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution, the Central Government, and as respects any other law, 
the State Government; 

(c)  “law”  includes  any  enactment,  Ordinance,  regulation,  order,  bye-law,  rule,  scheme, 
notification or other instrument having the force of law in the whole or any part of the State of Orissa. 
 3. Alteration of name of State of Orissa.—As from the appointed day, the State of Orissa shall be 

known as the State of Odisha. 

4. Amendment of article 164.—In article 164 of the Constitution, in clause (1), in the proviso, for 

the word “Orissa”, the word “Odisha” shall be substituted. 

5.  Amendment  of  article  273.—In  article  273,  in  clause  (1),  for  the  word  “Orissa”,  the  word 

“Odisha” shall be substituted. 

6. Amendment of First Schedule to the Constitution.— In the First Schedule to the Constitution, 
under the heading “I. THE STATES”, in entry 10, under the column “Name”, for the word “Orissa”, the 
word “Odisha” shall be substituted. 

7.  Amendment  of  Fourth  Schedule  to  the  Constitution.—  In  the  Fourth  Schedule  to  the 
Constitution, under the heading “TABLE”, in entry 14, in the second column, for the word “Orissa”, the 
word “Odisha” shall be substituted. 

8. Power to adapt laws.—(1) For the purpose of giving effect to the alteration of the name of the 
State of Orissa by section 3, the appropriate Government may, before the expiration of one year from the 
appointed day, by order, make such adaptations and modifications of any law made before the appointed 
day,  whether  by  way  of  repeal  or  amendment,  as  may  be  necessary  or  expedient,  and  thereupon  every 
such law shall have effect subject to the adaptations and modifications so made. 

(2) Nothing in sub-section (1) shall be deemed to prevent a competent Legislature or other competent 
authority from repealing or amending any law adapted or modified by the appropriate Government under 
the said sub-section. 

9.  Power  to  construe  laws.—Notwithstanding  that  no  provision  or  insufficient  provision  has  been 
made under section 8 for the adaptation of a law made before the appointed day, any court, tribunal or 
authority,  required  or  empowered  to  enforce  such  law,  may  construe  the  law  in  such  manner,  without 
affecting the substance, as may be necessary or proper in regard to the matter before the court, tribunal or 
authority. 

10.  Legal  proceedings.—Where  immediately  before  the  appointed  day  any  legal  proceedings  are 
pending  to  which  the  State  of  Orissa  is  a  party,  the  State  of  Odisha  shall  be  deemed  to  have  been 
substituted for the State of Orissa in those proceedings.         

1.  1st  November,  2011,  vide  notification  No.  G.S.R.  791(E),  dated  1st  November,  2011,  see  Gazette  of  India, 

Extraordinary, Part II, sec. 3 (i). 

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